The first thing I tried was this sign:
When I first saw this sign I knew I had to have it. Bob Marley is one of my favorite musical artists and "Three Little Birds" is my favorite Marley song (with "No Woman, No Cry" coming in at a close second). When I am feeling down or feeling like life is throwing me too many curve balls I listen to "Three Little Birds" to remind me that "every little thing is gonna be alright".
I didn't have a tutorial or anything to look at because Susie makes them to sell. I figured it wouldn't really be hard at all to make one of my own, plus I would be saving some money while I was at it. As it turned out I paid $0 for my sign!
I already had the yellow and white paint. The yellow paint was left over from Pacen's room project a few years ago. I learned the hard way that you don't need to buy as much paint in light colors, as it tends to go a lot further than the dark colors. So, I'm stuck with a lot of cheery yellow paint! :) The white paint I used was actually Primer, but it got the job done.
I noticed Susie used what, I'm assuming, is a piece of plywood for her sign, and although I do have some scrap plywood lying around, I did not have one in a manageable or proper size. I rummaged around the house and came up with a piece of old paneling that would work (the back). It was rather "L" shaped, but I could easily work with it and I figured I could fit it in my car and drive it to the family store in Harrison and use the circular saw to saw off the section that wasn't needed.
I then used Window's Publisher on my computer to find fonts that were similar to what Susie used. I also made sure to open a blank page in the 24x24 size, which was the size I was making my sign. The words "every" and "alright" were done in Brush Script MT and the other words were done in Candara.
I painted the board yellow and then decided to trace the words onto the board using that black/blue transfer paper (I can't think of the name of it right now). Once I got the words transferred I painted "Every" in with white and then I decided I didn't like what I saw. The transfer paper left a lot of black smudges all over the yellow and I decided I didn't like the font I had originally chose for the small words.
I re-painted the board and re-printed the words (this time using Candara). I then traced the words onto freezer paper and used a craft knife to cut out the letters. I ironed the freezer paper onto the board to keep it in place and then painted all the words white. I slowly peeled off the freezer paper and used small brushes to make the words less sloppy (some paint oozed under the paper).
I sawed off the part of the board that wasn't needed and went over everything with some sandpaper to make it look somewhat older. That's it! It sounds more difficult than it was, but I'm not the best at describing things in a simple manner.
I hung the sign on a small wall next to my bookshelf and I have decided I'm going to make more inspiration type signs to hang there too. It will be my "It's-okay-Brooke.-Things-may-seem-hard-right-now,-but-everything-will-work-out-like-it's-suppose-to" wall. I'll keep you updated as I add to the wall. Hopefully it will be sooner, rather than later. :)
For those of you who have never heard "Three Little Birds", here you go:
Of course the quote for this post is the chorus:
"Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
Singin': "Don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"
~ Bob Marley
Don't know why I didn't do this sooner, but today (10-25-11) I'm linking up at Sugar Bee Crafts. Go check out all the awesome crafts!
